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Astros confident Altuve will snap out of slump

Astros confident Altuve will snap out of slump

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Altuve's nice play 0:27

8/11/13: Jose Altuve handles a deflection off of Dallas Keuchel's glove and fires to first for the final out in the top of the third

By Brian McTaggart
/
MLB.com |

CHICAGO -- Astros second baseman Jose Altuve entered Wednesday in a 6-for-37 slump (.162) during which he had only two RBIs, dropping his batting average to .271. Manager Bo Porter and hitting coach John Mallee both believe he's due to break out of his funk.

"The biggest thing with Altuve right now is he's always been an aggressive, attack kind of hitter, and he needs to realize the league knows that he can hit, too," Porter said. "When they know that you can hit, they're not just going to lay the ball in the strike zone.

"I think he's just chasing a lot of pitches, and if he starts to take those pitches there's two things that are going to happen: One, he's going to start to walk more, and two: He's going to bring them back to the plate in which he's going to start getting the number of hits he would normally get."

Altuve remains a fixture at the third spot in the batting order. He batted .330 in April, .265 in May, .275 in June, .258 in July and .213 in August prior to Wednesday. Altuve has only drawn 28 walks in 535 plate appearances this year.

"Like any young player, he starts to press because he wants to do so good and when he's not having the success he's having sometimes it's a confidence issue," Mallee said. "I think he's going to snap out of it, and I know the manager is very supportive of him and continues to hit him in the meat part of the lineup. At the end of the day, he's one of the best hitters and I think he will be in the end."